BUFFALO'S ALISON PIPITONE BAND NEWS

I am walking down memory lane this evening. Care to join me?
I am thinking about my old band The Monas. In 1983, my two sisters and my
brother and I found ourselves living together in the same city after seven
years of living on opposite sides of the country. I was 18; I was so happy to
be with them again, we were in Los Angeles, MTV was blowing our minds, and our
mom had a garage.. How could we not start
a band?

Our first gig was a Mormon dance. We played for three hours.
We knew exactly five songs. I am not kidding.
I know for sure three of the songs were, “You Better Be Good To Me,”
“Summer of ’69,” and “Leader of the Pack.” There were two more, original songs I think. We
played those same songs for three hours. The only reason I mention we were
playing for Mormons is that they don’t drink, so they were fully cognizant of
our repertoire. Thankfully, Mormons are also a peace-loving people, so they
didn’t kill us.

Soon after that maiden voyage, my 14-year-old-bass-player sister,
in a move that proved her to be wise beyond her years, quit the band. My
brother got his friend Aaron to replace her and off we went. We set our sights
on making a splash in the Los Angeles music scene.

We spent the next bunch of years working our way up the food
chain. We played anywhere and everywhere that would have us. Eventually we
ended up at places like the Roxy, the Whisky, the Troubadour, and Club Lingerie
in Hollywood; at the Old Towne Pub in Pasadena; and downtown at Al’s Bar.

First we had a manager named John Dallas who bought us
clothes on Melrose Avenue. He regaled us with stories about Poison (he was
Poison’s first manager). He drank a case of Pepsi a day. He once died and was
dead for over two hours. At least that’s what he said. Don’t judge us. You’d be
surprised how ubiquitous that kind of guy is in Los Angeles. He booked us at
festivals and made us dress how he thought we should dress…I had to look like a
Robert Palmer girl.

Next we had a manager named Bob who had one of his fingers
missing at the 2nd knuckle. He had a tattoo of a fingernail on his
knuckle. He lived in a commune in downtown L.A. and we played at some of his
parties. I believe our relationship ended when he heard one of our songs on the
radio and tried to sue us because he thought we were making a lot of money.

We got a regular gig playing at Camp Pendleton every
Thursday. Marines are not like Mormons. We knew a lot of songs by then, but we
weren’t Metallica. And so after they drank about 15 beers they got upset when
we couldn’t play Metallica songs. Every week. After a couple months of the
weekly drive to base, we realized we never got paid. The booking agent was not
answering our calls. Taking matters into our own hands, we drove to her apartment
in the San Fernando Valley with a couple big guys and a baseball bat. She
wasn’t home, her husband wouldn’t give us any money, and we didn’t know what
else to do. So we just went home, and stayed home the next Thursday, thus
ending our tour of duty in Oceanside.

Finally, we had a manager named Jonathan who introduced us
to Tim Burton. Jonathan was very wealthy because of his boyfriend, and he was
really well connected. I remember we sat in Tim Burton’s office on the Warner
Brothers lot and he asked us if he could direct our first video. Uh, yes, we said. He asked us if we
could wait until he was done directing Batman
II. Uh, yes, we said. Fate had different plans. Jonathan passed
away soon after that meeting, and our Warner Brothers dreams went with him.

We soldiered on. We made a CD and an EP. We kept playing
shows. We learned about perseverance and we learned about human nature. We
never got a record deal and our mother couldn’t park in her garage for almost ten
years. Nevertheless, it was a fantastic way to spend the eighties.

Sitting and Thinking: Does it work?: 1/5/2016

It is January in the 716. I don’t
have any shows scheduled until April. I was sick for around two months. As you
can see, this has been the perfect setting in which to write songs. But unfortunately,
writing songs doesn’t work like that. The idea is, you think a lot, you notice
things, and then the beginnings of songs start to emerge. No such luck for Al
Pipitone on January 5, 2016. It’s a desert in here. I have experienced great success with the thinking component, but it’s not the right kind of thinking. I’ll give you two examples of my recent
thinking (that is to say, so far today):

“Why is ice heavier than water? I
know I learned why at some point, but I can’t remember. And besides, it doesn’t
make any sense. Ice should weigh the same
as water. I get that steam is lighter, but is it really? If you could
concentrate steam the same as water or ice, wouldn’t the weight be the same?”

Or, here’s another one (after
walking past a 75% Off wrapping paper
bin as I walked out of Rite Aid this morning): “All the leftover Christmas
wrapping paper has a tan background. Obviously. Who designs the patterns that
go on wrapping paper? That would be kind of a fun job, designing wrapping
paper. Or would it? Were they art majors? Do the people who design wrapping
paper worry about their place in the world? Or do they wake up every workday,
bright eyed, excited to get in there and get designing? That would be awesome. Are
there conferences for wrapping paper designers where they give out awards? Oh
look, here’s my car.”

I don’t think I can pull off songs
about science, so the ice, water, and steam theme is not an option. And the song
about the wrapping paper designers? Well, that would just be about- A) pursuing
your dreams, or B) being disappointed with your life. Western Civilization
doesn’t need any more of those songs.

So here I
sit, just thinking. Sitting and thinking. Typically not a good recipe for
landing yourself on Shark Tank.My father noticed this proclivity of mine
many moons ago – when I was 16 years old. That day I got the Italian
motivational speech, which mostly just boiled down to yelling:

“AL!! Get out there and get a job!!
You’ve got to get out there and DO something!! Do you think you can just open
the window and a man will be walking down the street saying, “JOBS!!!!
JOBS!!!!! Get your jobs here!!!!!!”?

After that, there were many days
when I was sitting on the couch, staring into space, and he’d walk by with one
word: “JOBS!!!!!” Point taken, Roy-Boy. Sadly, instead of taking his sage
(albeit condescending) advice, I opted to spend much more time in my bedroom.

I know I am lucky to have the
luxury of sitting and thinking. Believe me, I appreciate it. But that doesn’t
make it any more fruitful. Well, back at it, as they say. But I’ll leave you
with a little tidbit, which may or may not end up in a song:

How many stars

How many low clouds

How many long nights

Deep in the rain

How many barking dogs

See? You’ve got to hang on

How's this for an idea?!?!?: 9/26/2014

We have a new album coming out in about a week or so.... It's called One Fine Minute. Do you know WHY it's called One Fine Minute? Well, because every single song on the album (15 of them) - is one minute or less! I had been thinking about time, and modern forms of communication, and well -it's a long story -nevertheless, I asked everyone in the band if they wanted to try to write one minute songs. They all said yes (!) - they all wrote, and so did I. I have to say, it was a REALLY fun project, and the songs are complete...that was our challenge- to write really short songs that feel like complete songs, not just clips. Interested in hearing it? We are doing downloads only. For $7 (you can only download the entire album, not individual songs) - Anyway, look for it in a week or so on this website, on FB, on cdbaby.com, iTunes, and lots of other places!

The Alison Pipitone Band is one of Buffalo NY & WNY's best original rock music bands from Buffalo, NY.APB's music can be heard in and around the Buffalo NY & WNY areas.Check out the APB schedule page and join them for a night of fun and great entertainment!

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